To Fly The Winds Of Life
by toothlessgolfer
Summary: A series of one-shots and short pieces, all set in the Brothers Of Night universe. Spoiler warning for Brothers Of Night plot developments. Each chapter in this series is referenced in author's notes in Brothers Of Night chapters. Sporadic updating.
1. Not Alone

Not Alone

* * *

 _Scorch this sun-cycle..._

She wearily sighed as she slowly circled high in the sky. Her eyes narrowed on the trees far below and the mountainsides, searching for any prey all the while. This familiar range that she had lived in for over a pawful of season-cycles was harsh, cruel, very empty of prey, had many ponds with some fish in them, and...

It was safe.

There were no dangers or threats to her. None of the two-leg-can-be-prey-can-be-Monsters nested in her range. These mountains had nothing for them. They could not grow the plants that they eat. There were too many rocks here, and it was too cold in the cold-season. There were some of the two-leg-Monsters in a large nest a half-sun flight along the mountain range where the mountains fade into hills and a long, empty plain.

Cold.

It flew with her liver and life-flight at times. How many season-cycles had it been since she had seen another dark wing deserving of the name? The last ones had been her own hatching nest. Too many two-leg-Monsters had been ranging near where she had hatched, so she had flown far with the sun's flight once she fledged. She flew until she had not seen any of the two-leg-Monsters at all. Then she kept flying until she found these ranges and mountains. A perfect range to claim as her own and as the only true hunter and survivor!

For there were no other dark wings now, as far as she knew. In truth, there was one but that bad-empty-liver one was false! Not a true dark wing! Its life-fire was rotted and empty, if it even had one!

She growled at herself.

 _No, bad thought-hunter. That is all the past. I am hunting now..._

Her thoughts flew out of the past and to the now. To the prey hiding down below in the trees, safe from her. Then a soft growl escaped her jaws when she saw it down below. A four-leg large-horn prey had wandered away from the hidden herd and was now in the open.

Wings tucked and fins held close to her side. No wind-scream of pain.

 _Almost..._

The prey usually would look up or see her attack-dive. This prey though was very busy eating the grass and was not looking up.

Down over the trees and into the clearing. Hind legs thrust forward, claws extended, as she gave a great beat of her wings to stop her fall.

The prey brayed once and was hurled to the ground. She pounced on it and snapped its neck. A few others of the same prey bounded away through the trees. Those future-prey did not matter. This one was enough.

She picked up the dead prey with her limbs and jaws and carried the catch up into the sky. Over to a ledge on the mountain she flew, landed, and then dropped the catch out of sight. There were some of the four-leg-pack-hunters in the range. They were no threat to her, but they could be very brave and liver-flamed when there was a new catch and meat within their snap.

Then she stepped back from the catch and caught her breath. Her fast flying life-beating-organ slowed as she lay down possessively on the prey and purred her victory to herself. The prey's life-water coating her tongue and jaws was very sweet. Even sweeter was the taste of triumph, of a hunt that ended with the hunter, her, claiming the prize.

 _Almost a moon-cycle since the last hunt, and now I eat! I am a hunter!_

Her roar of triumph and joy filled the sky and echoed off the mountain.

She left behind nothing but empty, chewed-on bones and the outer fur. Everything worth eating went into her belly. Her very filled belly left her with much sleep-wanting.

Sleep...

She lay down on the ledge, which was covered in prey life-water, licked her claws and jaws clean, and gave in to sleep-wanting.

Her belly and liver were warmed.

Sigh.

If only she did not need to sleep alone. But she was alone. There were almost no kin in these ranges. She was the only true one of her kind of kin. That was what the winds of her life wanted for her. It was the natural way.

She was still safe, if somewhat cold also.

Alone.

* * *

The life-slowing-season had arrived, and it was time to begin getting the cold-season weight. Eating all she could was most important. Several of the ponds were mostly emptied of fish. One of the smaller prey-herds of four-legs was reduced by a pawful until it was not even a herd.

The cool wind blew in her face and ruffled her few frills, her great green wings, and her fins. Down to her hidden den she dove after a modest meal.

It was the circle that was so normal. Sleep, wake, hunt, catch, eat, drink, sleep.

All alone. Unbroken. Unchanging.

Empty life.

She threw out her wings and touched down on the ground. Her thoughts were up in the clouds as she began padding into her den.

Then she froze.

Inside her den was another kin. Not any kin though.

It was a male dark wing!

She remembered it from so many season-cycles ago. It found her in this range, flew after her, showed how strong it was, and showed that it was worth mating with. They both answered their life-making need, but the male did not stay with her. It flew away after it did what it meant to do.

Hunting was always hard in her range, and her little one, once it hatched, had needed so much food. Food she had not been able to hunt for both her and her little one... But that was not truly her own fault. The sire should have stayed and helped at least until the little one was fledged and could fly and hunt on its own. Not her fault.

The bark of alarm and fear escaped her before she was aware of it.

 _Not safe!_

She spun away, jumped for the sky, and flew low over the trees and along the mountain. That good, warm den was fouled and lost now. Maybe the male would miss her and she could escape. Her color might help her hide some against the green of the trees.

She glanced over her shoulder.

The male had seen her, and it was flying for her.

 _Waste!_

Her wings beat faster to carry her to safety and hiding. Hopefully.

Up the slope of a mountain and between rock-spires, tipping onto her side at times and trying to hide behind ledges in silent gliding.

But she could not foul the male's flight, and it was getting closer to her tail.

Cold fire filled her liver at the bad-truth. She could not outfly it. This had to be a fight on the ground, and there was a perfect rocky ledge on the nearest ridgetop.

A quick dive toward the highest peak followed before she heavily touched down in her haste. Then she spun in place to face the pursuer. She slightly crouched on her hind legs, extended her wings wide in threat-sign, tapped her claws on the rocky ground, and bared her teeth.

The male dark wing landed just down the ridge from her. But she had the high ground and snarled her defiance at it. If it was going to fight her and try to force-mate her, it would die even if that meant that she would never get an egg or hatchling again. Even if this was the last male dark wing in all the ranges!

Its deep green eyes narrowed on her as it...

Lay down on its belly?

Did not move toward her?

 _What?_

Neither of them moved.

Then she noticed something that she had missed in her liver-chill and fleeing-flight.

This dark wing was smaller than the rotted-false one. This dark wing had not come for her in the new-life mating-season or with wild-hungry-wanting in its eyes.

It was a different male dark wing.

That idea, that hope, put a small fire in her liver. Even more than small when she saw how many head-frills he had and how strong he looked. He was life-making mature, if only slightly larger than she was.

How many cycles had she been alone? Too many. Too many had been spent thinking that the sky-breath meant for her to never know the warmth of a tail around hers, to never be wrapped up in another's wings, to never fly a sky-dance, and to never sit eggs and hatchlings with a true mate.

 _Maybe..._

She relaxed slightly and sat back on her haunches while lowering her wings. The male took that as an invitation to rise and advance.

But this was her range. She did not know him. He had old hurt-marks around his neck and chest. He was a strong fighter, despite his not-truly-large size.

She flashed her teeth again and snarled softly. It was a first test of him. If he knew the ceremonies and knew to bend his wings to another in a range that was not his, then maybe he would know to stay with her also if...

He stopped and sat down again while softly grumbling to himself.

 _Good..._

His ears went back, and he crooned softly as he still stared at her.

"Do not have fear," he whispered.

The world and life that she knew crashed down around her. It should not have surprised her that another of her own kin, another dark wing, would have words. But it had been so long since she had heard any words spoken. Maybe other types of kin could talk to their own kin but only like kinds of kin could hear the other? The rotted-male false-dark-wing did not talk to her back then, whether because it could not or because it saw no need. She preferred to think that its rot was total, and that it did not have any words.

But this true dark wing did have words.

"You can talk?" she warbled back.

She knew that her voice was harsh from the many season-cycles of not using it.

"I think so," he answered.

A tease? A strong-thinking word-twisting? And he remained on his belly throughout, not moving a scale from where he lay.

He knew the ceremony and knew to be respectful to her on her range.

She relaxed further, tilted her head to the side, and warmly stared at him. What was his life-story? How did he find her?

What he wanted was obvious. His wide green eyes, deep purr, and alone-scent carried on the wind spoke for that. And the small fire in her liver burned slightly warmer at the much-good-idea.

After all those season-cycles of hoping and surviving, she was not alone.

"Who are you?" she asked while staring wide-eyed at him.

A very brief pause followed in which the wind ruffled his wings and fins. He opened his toothless maw and warmly hummed at the question.

"I am Was-Grounded."

* * *

 _ **Author's Note – Looking back on volume II, I realized that I could have done more to give Green-Wings some development and scenes from her perspective. This should have conveyed that she is a confident, capable, wild survivor. She has suffered some in the past, but those hurts were not internalized because they were not her fault. Hence, everything that happens after this meeting and what these two become to each other is 'organic' and rather uncomplicated. They both want the same thing from life. While characters who have major personal problems are 'interesting' and 'dramatic', there is also something to be said for portraying people who are fundamentally whole, stable, and healthy, even if they still have some learning and growing to do.**_


	2. A Second Chance

A Second Chance

* * *

Dragonheart sat cross-legged and stared ahead out to sea, her staff laid across her lap.

This time of year was always the most peaceful. There were none of the bad-wrong trappers here to take the King's dragons. Humans were so vile, so monstrous to other life and even to themselves. They do not change! They are...

She wearily sighed and absentmindedly stroked her scales and head-horns. The faint purr escaped her throat as she stared out to the blizzard beyond. To the frozen ice and deadly waters. Hearing the whistling, frigid wind howling its cry in the white mist. Only a few dragons would dare to fly in the cold now. She and Cloudjumper were not among those few unless there was a dire need or the King summoned them.

Now was peaceful.

She eventually tired of staring and rose to her two feet. That still felt strange now. It was so different from what had been for many seasons. Seasons of crawling and shuffling on her paws like a true dragon. And what had sparked so much reflection and inside-unease was... a true dragon.

Her staff held in her paws was something she had spent seasons gradually whittling away and carving, painstakingly fitting it with bones to make the rattles and calls that helped mark her as a dragon to the other dragons. Certain of their calls and noises could be mimicked.

Was she not a true dragon?

She did not walk as they did. Not truly. Her paws caught her attention again. So strange they were. She had claws yes, just like a true dragon, but she did not grow the claws herself. She found them and took them from a bad-wrong-trapper who had killed the dragon the claws had belonged to.

The pink skin under the hide that she almost always wore was another reminder of the truth. That painful truth that she tried to hide under claws, her helmet, and all her garb.

She was not a true dragon.

Her thoughts, so long kept here by painful memories and a cold chill, were starting to fly somewhere that they probably should not. To the past. To pain.

This nest had nothing but contentment for her until so recently. She had a purpose. A mission. Something good that she could do to fill her days, her life.

A way to keep running and not look back over her tail which she did not have.

 _'I don't know if he'll make it... he is so small...'_

 _'Stop, you're only making it worse...'_

 _'Stoick! Stoick...'_

Her steps gradually carried her down the familiar blue passageway deeper into the nest. The rocks and various shed scales on the ground beneath her paws, beneath her feet, crunched as she passed.

Slowly. Wearily.

There were no dragons out on the ground now. Most were deep asleep, as they almost always were during the winter.

She could walk freely without being disturbed by someone wanting to sniff her, give a fresh, tasty fish, share its own scent, nuzzle her in greeting, or jump around eagerly to show off a healed injury.

Then she finally arrived where she meant to go. She needed council, advice from one far greater than herself.

The King knew somehow. He knew that she was seeking him out. He always knew.

She bent forward at the waist and purred softly from on the ground next to his deep pool. His deep purr followed along with a very faint dusting of misty breath.

 _King, I do not know what to do._

His eternal, deep blue eyes stared back into her green ones.

 _Fear threat mind chill you lost good here..._

She sat down on the shore before his Majesty and lay her staff across her lap. Thoughts of her breaking open traps, mending wings, and being swarmed by eager hatchlings passed in her thoughts, whether by chance or by design.

 _I know that I do much good here._

She paused and looked up to a high ledge. To the source of all her recent confusion. Great joy and pain together in one flight.

 _But I have done bad also. I have been weak._

The King sighed softly.

 _Old bad hurting nest fires death sad..._

 _I thought I could fly on my own and leave behind part of my family. That I could let them go because it would be better for them without me._

 _Hatchling yours yes no gone. Killer be? Kin-liver be?_

 _I was afraid. I gave up hope. That is why I never went back. I was too tired of trying to change them and make the world better even if it would be dangerous._

The King shifted where he lay and slowly bent down to her. With gentleness almost impossible from such a titan, he brushed her side with one of his great tusks. The mere thought that these same tusks could impale boats made her shiver with humility at his power and control.

She opened her eyes again and found his great blue ones.

 _I am not a dragon._

 _Wings no tail no scales not yours horns not yours two-leg no kin yes..._

She blinked.

"I am not," she whispered.

 _Change world not you other yes will..._

 _How do you know that?_

His eyes looked haunted, or maybe tired only, for an instant.

 _See she has she told me..._

 _Maybe you know, but I lost my chance._

 _Dark wing small cold hurt go talk mend..._

That was confusing.

 _He has no hurts that I can help with._

 _Talk mend help..._

The King stepped back and took his place in the water after closing his eyes and giving a clear summons.

* * *

The beat and wind of wings disturbed her, waking her from where she had apparently fallen asleep on the ground. A heavy thud broke her reverie as a familiar dragon landed next to her.

She glanced over toward the King and saw that he was clearly deep asleep.

 _Ugh, another of those dreams...  
_

Then Cloudjumper huffed in her face, fouling her with his fishy breath as he so liked to do.

"Cloudjumper! We have talked about this!"

He only chuffed proudly at her before stepping back and offering her a wing.

"Alright, I guess I should."

She hooked her staff onto his wing and was lifted up onto his back. Then they flew up to the special ledge that had been theirs for so many seasons. He landed and immediately curled up where he had surely been sleeping before.

Then she started slowly walking down into the alcove, the passageway that led outside onto a far ledge. She turned a corner and saw her little corner of the world again.

The myriad of crates and boxes salvaged from wrecked and destroyed trapper ships. Many different supplies and tools had been recovered through the years. Her little hut in which she passed many nights by a warm fire. The few books she had been able to acquire through the years. The scraps of paper on which she had drawn a certain Stormcutter.

And now...

She sat down on the furs just inside her hut and picked up her pencil and a scrap of spare paper. Then she started on the new drawing that she had been working on weeks ago before the revelation. It had not felt... proper to continue once she learned the truth.

But that was just running, no different from what she had done for years. No more.

She looked over and considered the subject only a few paces away from her.

The triangular head, the closed eyes, the head frills, the large ears, the ridges that started on the forehead and flowed all down the back and tail, the large folded wings, the tucked limbs, the forepaws that were subtly different from those of most other dragons and allowed for writing, the sharp and dangerous claws, the dark scales and hide, the fins at the base of the tail, the long and strong tail itself, and the majestic tailfins.

Shadowwing, the Night Fury.

Hiccup, the son she abandoned.

He had apparently been a budding artist also in his past life. Like mother, like son?

She set aside the drawing after an unknown amount of time adding to it. Another log went on the fire. Then she stared at him as he slept in peace. His great back slowly rose and fell with each deep breath like a bellows. His eyes were still in a dreamless rest.

There was no doubt in her mind as to the truth. This dragon before her truly was her son. He knew things that only one who lived on Berk and knew Stoick would know. But this meant that dragon magic, if that was even a thing, existed. Though, she did know that there was something truly unnatural about at least one type of dragon.

Maybe there was hope for her.

If he could be changed into a dragon by accident, maybe she could also. Maybe she could finally leave behind the last of what tied her down to the ground. To get wings and fly on her own among the clouds. To feel as though she would never need to come down.

Sigh.

 _No, that is running away also..._

Painful truth.

 _This is something with me, with who I am. Not what I am. I cannot run away from my problems when I am carrying them with me. I would only carry them into the sky also._

The flames crackled while the wind howled outside.

 _Is he happy with what he is? He definitely would not want to change back at such a terrible price as his brother's life. But he really does care about that Astrid. What if he had a true choice?_

Her thoughts turned again to a far northern island that hid a couple great secrets. Two wondrous things that the rest of the world could never know about. Why the King and He-Who-Remembers had shared the truth with her was truly humbling. To be shown a memory of even the great King bowing in respect to the King of Kings was...

If there was anyone who could help with Hiccup's situation, one way or another, it would be He-Who-Remembers. Was he a god? An Aesir? A Vanir? Or neither, as he himself had assured her?

Hiccup twitched in his sleep and grumbled softly. A bad dream?

What was there that she could do now? What were they? She had forfeit any right to claim to be his mother when she chose to not come back. She had tried to believe that it was for the best. What comforting, deluding lies...

 _Though, who knows what would have happened if I did come back? Would he have ever tried to prove himself? He might never have shot down Toothless, and the war would still be going on as long as that Queen still lived._

Pointless fighting.

 _If the King had known about that Queen, he would have killed it. An Alpha that turns on its own is no Alpha. Maybe the fighting could have been ended long ago. Maybe..._

Sigh.

What might have been was buried under too much possibility.

More movement as Hiccup moaned softly and shifted his tailfins over his head. Then he settled down again.

Life was very slow during the winter. The days were short and dark. Almost all the dragons settled down into this cycle of sleeping for well over half the day, some of them for days straight, and only waking to eat, drink, or relieve themselves. Hiccup at least wanted to be awake more than the other dragons so that they could both talk, him using the writing box they had made together.

Very old memories returned to her in that moment. Baby Hiccup in his crib sucking on his thumb. Her swaddling her little son. Stoick looking down on him while assuring her that Hiccup would be the strongest of them all one day.

The thought of her Stoick, her old lover, her dear husband, and the father of her only child, was usually too difficult for her. There was too much confusion about him now in her heart. What savage seas, what waves of life had he lived to become what he apparently had?

Good people in desperate situations do bad things.

Then motion brought her back to the present.

Shadowwing was awake and looking over at her with his sleepy eyes visible under his tailfins. His great green eyes were so strange and also familiar at the same time.

"Good morning mister sleepyhead."

He chuffed at that and rolled his eyes. Then he hauled himself to his feet and padded over to the writing box. His claws clicked on the rock as he walked.

 **Bad hair day?**

"Well, I would go outside and take a bath, but..."

They both glanced down the passageway to the swirling snow and wind outside. Then he grumbled.

 **Who has the more sensitive nose here?**

"Hey, I've lived around dragons for twenty years. You don't smell that bad."

They stared at each other.

Snort. Snort.

They both burst out in laughter. She had to sit down and clutch at her sides. His throaty peals echoed down the passageway as well as his tail swayed on the rock.

Then they finally recovered themselves. Mostly.

 **So another bright and sunny day?**

"Better than the last few. No frostbite on the spleen today."

He purred softly and glanced toward the fire.

 **Not a day for flying**

 **I prefer curling up around the fire**

 **On days like this**

"I agree with that."

It helped a lot that the fireplace was right next to their writing box.

 **What to talk about today?**

"I have a different idea this time. I have been writing a new Book of Dragons. Adding things that I have learned out here."

He gave an impressed hum.

 **Good idea**

 **You must know things that we do not**

"I could tell you more of what I've learned. Or I could tell you about the times I went to the mainland," she grinned.

He lifted an eyeridge and chuckled at that.

 **The mainland?**

 **What for?**

"Following trapper routes. Trying to see where they go. I traded some dragon scales for information."

He gave a bemused glance at her wild, scale attire.

"I had a change of clothes!"

 **Crazy feral vigilante dragon lady**

"I resent that. I am not a... lady!" she objected.

Blink. Blink.

The laughing started again.

* * *

Darkness descended again a few hours later. The wind began to pick up. The temperature began to fall from the balmy freezing to death it had been during the day.

Cloudjumper was still asleep where he had been before.

Dragonheart lay on her furs and watched as Shadowwing reclined next to the fire. He took his place and then glanced at her. Or more precisely to the drawing she had been working on in the quiet moments throughout the day.

So she pulled it out and held it up for him to see.

"Almost done. Just need to get the tail and fins next time," she whispered.

He purred softly and gave her a small nod. Then he looked away from her and stared into the fire. His ears fell ever so slightly as the moments passed. Even on a dragon's face, his pensive and almost melancholy mood was quite clear.

 _Oh son, I think I know what you are thinking. Where is your brother? Is he safe? Is he freezing all alone in some cold cave somewhere? Will you ever see him again?_

The quiet moment passed, and he wrapped himself in a wing. His deep breaths began to gradually slow, though his soft purring did not.

There was nothing else but the crackle of the fire and the whistle of the wind.

It was so hard to let go even after he told her that there was nothing to forgive.

That was mostly because she knew that she had no good reason. Maybe the sacrifice had been a worthy one when weighing the freedom and lives of all the dragons she had saved against her choice to abandon her son. Maybe it was for the greater good. Why did it not feel that way then?

He may have forgiven her, but she had not forgiven herself.

Not yet.

They could probably never truly be mother and son. They had different priorities and responsibilities. They were not even the same creature now.

Still, she knew she was not going to miss this opportunity. They were family even if under the most twisted and unimaginable conditions.

Valka knew that it was a second chance.

* * *

 _ **Author's Note – Valka's flaws as a character and plot element are quite obvious. Hiccup's film reaction to meeting her was also quite naive and unquestioning. In this world he was more ready to overlook certain of her flaws because of what he had already lost. This came together to a background theme of a winter blizzard ambiance combined with a crackling fireplace. This scene is the result of someone a while back mentioning that they would have liked to see a bit more Valka-Hiccup bonding after the revelation in the deep of the winter. I also wanted to give a true Valka POV since those have been rather infrequent so far.  
**_


	3. Home

Home

* * *

Astrid stood on the cliffs of Berk at sunset. She stared off toward the east, the same direction someone else had flown off into the wild over a year and a half ago.

Her blue scale cape, the traditional bearskin cape forgone in favor of something more fitting, flowed behind her in the evening wind.

A free hand went to her hip and patted her custom blade, a gift from Gobber to celebrate her ascension to the role of Chief. She was the first woman that Berk ever had as Chief. That had needed some sorting out at first, what with a few men who still had some very old ways of thinking and could not quite take orders from a woman.

Her method of handling such discontents was quite simple. Single combat, no holds barred, nothing off-limits, any weapon goes, first blood drawn.

No one had any objections now.

Well, almost no one.

To always be at the beck and call of everyone in the village, to have to resolve the most inane of disputes, to need to entreat with delegates from the allied tribes whenever said delegates showed up... it was so tiring.

Not to mention all the peacekeeping with dragons here on Berk. Ruff, Lout, and Legs, it was hard for her to think of them any other way, were very helpful in mediating the remaining incidents that still happened, mostly with younger fledglings who did not quite know how to behave.

Gods... even Gobber was a full dragon rider now. A prior flight of exploration had found the Boneknapper's lair. Gobber had demanded to be taken there immediately to settle an old score. No one knew exactly what that meant at first. He had gotten there, had a shouting match with a dragon that had no roar, and shared a specific bone with said Boneknapper. The Boneknapper then regained its roar once it got back that bone. No one knew how that happened.

How Gobber knew that the bone he had with him was what the Boneknapper had been looking for all these years... no one knew that either.

At least the dragon's name, Jingles, made some sense when considering the type of dragon in question.

Astrid then deeply sighed, turned away from the horizon, and beheld Berk in all its glory. The spinning colors on the wing, the feeding and grooming stations, and the large stables and perches were the most prominent aspects of the island.

Berk was becoming a dragon-human utopia, a voice of peace.

She paused, and her gaze went back to the horizon again. There were so many voices and cries echoing from behind her.

"How long now?"

She gave a great sigh and sat down at the top of the cliff.

"What would you do? You and your cheeky grin. I wonder what you would look like now, you would be what, twenty?"

Chuckle.

"Probably being pestered by your father to take Chiefing lessons. You would probably be trying to map the world just to get away from here."

She picked up a handful of grass and started dropping the blades one at a time.

"You know that we have stubbornness issues."

Drop.

"But we always do what we must."

Drop.

"They surely know that we are here."

Drop.

"How, how do we fight that?"

Drop.

"I guess it is ironic in a way."

Drop.

"The others were so afraid of us making a dragon army."

Drop.

"The Vaina have already fled."

Drop.

"The Outcasts are at sea with their ships."

Drop.

"The Volsung are getting ready to leave."

Drop.

"There are too many of us to stay in one place for long."

Drop.

"Stay and fight or run and hide?"

Drop.

"We've never cared for running and hiding."

Drop.

"Not even against the Berserkers."

Drop.

"But against an army of dragons?"

Drop.

Sigh.

"Who are we?"

The last blade of grass fell off the cliff as she stared toward the horizon.

* * *

The entire tribe gathered before her in the Great Hall at the special summons. Ale, bread, and cheeses were handed out freely.

There was a clear pall hanging over everyone now, though they tried to hide it behind the usual jokes and contests at the tables.

Word had clearly spread. The messengers from the other tribes had not been the most discrete about keeping the secret.

 _Oh well, no turning back._

She nodded to Gobber and then stood up while he rang the bell to get everyone's attention.

All contests, whispers, and conversations died away as all eyes found her.

Chiefs had many different styles, Gobber had explained to her. Stoick had liked to joke or start out with some salute and recognition of their shared past as a people. The latter definitely would not fit her purpose here. The former was something she definitely did not feel in the mood for, nor did it fit her personal style.

These were Nords, not exactly the sharpest tools in the shed. Sometimes the best approach was the simplest and most direct. Actually, whichever method required the least complex thought was the best.

"There is an army of dragons out there."

Shocked silence.

"Commanded by a warlord, Drago Bloodfist or something like that."

"Bloodfist..." "Scary..." "Good name..." "Heh, sounds like dragon..."

"They will be here in a few days!"

"So let's fight them!" "I'll get me ax!" "Ya, idiot!" "But this is Berk!" "It's our home!" "What do we do?"

"Silence!" Gobber rang the bell again.

She stepped away from the Chief's table and walked over to the central fireplace. Her eyes met those of dozens of her fellow tribe; men, women, and children all.

"We could stay and fight, yes! But this is a new kind of enemy! Dozens of ships and hundreds of dragons, that is what we would fight!" she shouted.

The defiant looks in everyone's eyes seemed to wither at that. She held out her arms wide as if to embrace the whole tribe at once.

"Is Berk our home?" she asked them.

Even the... slowest... of the tribe were able to confidently nod their answer to her.

"Why?"

There was a bit of head-scratching at that. Many people turned to their neighbor or a spouse to ask something.

"Uh, because we've always been here!" someone in the back shouted.

"Yeah." "Sure." "Seems true." "Home of our grandparents." "It's ours."

She nodded.

"Yes, we've always been here. What if we had always lived on another island? Wouldn't that be our home?"

More nods.

"So it is not the place that makes it home, right?"

This was a bit of a stretch. It involved the first major leap in thinking and required some skills of thought that not all may possess. So she thought it would be a good idea to explain.

"It is not the place! It is us! It is your neighbor! It is everyone who rides the waves of life with you! We could be anywhere and still be home as long as we are all together!"

The nodding grew gradually stronger as she spoke.

"How long have we been here? Longer than any of us know! It will not be easy, but I know you can do it!"

"Yeah!" "Do I have do file my ax-returns?" "No problem!" "Going on vacation!" "Hit the seas!" "What are we waiting for?"

"We all have to disappear completely off the map!" she shouted.

More nodding all around. People started standing up in agreement.

"And when Drago gets here to Berk what will he find? Nothing! We will leave nothing for him!"

Many men and women gave a single fingered salute to the far warlord.

"We will find somewhere else to live! A New Berk where we and our dragons can live in peace! No more armies and armadas!"

Cheering and raised fists went throughout the whole audience.

She strode over to the Chief's table, her azure cape swaying and glistening behind her in the firelight, and picked up a filled mug. She held the mug high in a clear signal to all.

Everyone else followed her lead.

"Wherever we go! Whatever we face! We will face it together!"

The empty mug was slammed on the table a few moments later. Clangs of empty mugs went all around the Great Hall as all reaffirmed their bonds of loyalty to the tribe.

She spared a glance over at Gobber. He merely grinned and nodded at her.

 _Not that bad. They actually look pleased to be leaving Berk._

She barely restrained the chuckle.

 _We sailed here generations ago never planning to sail away. We will not. We will fly away._

* * *

Even though she knew it had to be done, nothing could prepare her for actually seeing it.

A full day of preparation had followed the gathering in the Hall and the resolution. She knew where they were going, as did the three representatives of the other allied tribes, who had just flown off with their dragons. Everyone from Berk loaded their dragons with whatever could be taken as supplies. Everything else of value had been hidden so thoroughly that only Ragnarok itself might uncover the caches.

Then it had come time to finally do the last deed. It could almost be seen as something symbolic, but it was primarily to spite Drago. Leaving nothing behind for his army was essential.

No supplies. No food. No shelter.

The last thing that they all did at sunset before departing was take a torch to almost every building on Berk. She spared the Haddock house.

The dragons must have been very confused by all this, especially after having much experience with putting out fires. Then their humans start intentionally setting everything on fire? Confusing indeed.

Stormfly shifted under her while gliding smoothly in the darkness near the clouds. Everything was so peaceful, almost like another night flight that she had once been on.

The orange glow of the fires, most especially from the Great Hall itself, illuminated the entire forest all the way up to Mount Thor itself.

It was as though the sky had fallen down and brought the sun with it.

Was it raining? Why were her cheeks moist?

A Chief does not cry or show emotion other than rage.

At least, not when anyone else can see.

So now was fine.

"Come on girl, let's go."

She gently patted Stormfly on the neck, and the dear Nadder turned for the rest of the distant flight far out over the water. It was a storm of wings as everyone on Berk, man and woman, young and old, weak and strong, were now flying on dragonback.

Astrid held her head high as she and Stormfly passed by the others and found the head of the flight where they belonged.

She never looked back.

* * *

 _ **Author's Note – A few reviewers asked if we would get any Berk perspectives back during volume II. This was a moment that I always knew had to be depicted.**_ _ **The decision to leave behind Berk is not only a practical one. It is also a symbolic one, as it represents a departure from the way of life that the Hooligans have lived for generations. In this willingness to leave behind their old island that is 'the home of their grandparents and their grandparents before them', they are declaring to the world that their identity has changed. They are not merely stubborn Vikings anymore.**_


	4. Unnatural Selection

Unnatural Selection

* * *

Desolation.

Grey rocks.

Rolling waters.

Crashing waves.

The land before him.

Hope-In-His-Liver glided with the wind, feeling the warmth of the hot-season's air on his wings. At least he felt a mild warmth, it likely never was a true hot-season this far along the coast and away from the ranges that he knew.

But he was certain that this was the flight for him. Season-cycles of flying on his own had passed since he flew the pack. It was a small pack, and all the unclaimed females in it were too close kin to him to be good mates. They also had a preference for the stronger and more... biting of the males because those made for the most protective and fierce mates.

He was different.

He was slightly smaller than the others and had little fighting-wanting in his liver. He was the last that his own sire and dam had hatched, and he had never gotten as much food as he wanted.

That was the normal way. The way of nature. It cared not for the smaller or the weaker. They should be lost to make the pack stronger if they cannot provide in some other way.

That is why he wanted something different. A better way. He felt how the normal way could chill ones life-fire. Few of his old pack members had wanted to listen to that.

It was one moon-cycle ago when everything changed for him after much wandering. That is when he started hearing the whispering in his sleep-visions. A soft calling that guided his flight to a far range where he met...

Her.

She was a strange she-kin of a kind he had never seen before. She told him with her thinking-voice that she spoke for the sky-breath and the great sky-rock up above. They would help to guide his flight.

 _'Light wing, you have a choice. You can live a safe life alone in hiding in the wild above, or you can fly to a hidden world that you know not. You can find a good, warm mate in that hidden world, but there will also be danger.'_

 _'I will fly that flight.'_

 _'Good. Promise me this. Do not let the normal way guide your flight. You must do something that no light wing has done before.'_

 _'What?'_

 _'You will know when it is time. Tell your first hatchling about the above world. Tell them about the great sky-rock.'_

 _'They must know about this filled with danger world? Why?'_

 _'Because I feel that they will fly great winds, and they will change the world. Go and fly now with hope in your liver.'_

He found the great cave mouth in the side of the mountain, exactly as was promised. His flight carried him inside where he landed, paused, and looked back at the world he was leaving behind. His pack, sire, and dam were out there somewhere, but he flew from all of them.

So much beauty, wildness, emptiness, and danger.

He was flying on his own now but hopefully not for much longer.

Then he turned tail on all he knew and vanished into the deeps.

* * *

The hidden ranges were completely unlike anything that he had ever seen in the above. Rocks and plants burned with light. The ground prey were many. There were no two-legs at all. That was good and warming because of how safe it meant this range was.

Everything about the hidden ranges fed the burning fire in his liver. It was safe and much not like what She had said it would be.

 _What was she thinking? There is no danger in these ranges._

A confused warble.

 _Where are the other kin?_

He continued on in his flight through long chambers and massive caves. Over stretches of water and fields of grass and strange trees. Through darker parts of the world. Into a large range filled with water on one side and land with many trees on the other. It was also very bright, almost like in the above.

A flash of color caught his attention down below the trees.

 _What?_

He dove down after it as it bounded out from the trees in pursuit of a four-leg prey. The prey was quickly tackled and grounded, but he barely noticed that.

The light wing down below him had a faint red shine to her wings and scales. Her wings were large, and she was clearly a capable hunter from how she grounded the prey and killed it so quickly. She was clearly an adult like him.

Hope glowed within his liver. There did not seem to be any other light wings around. Maybe she had no mate. He was not one to fight to take an already-claimed mate or try to break apart a nest. Few were that twisted, but some males would try that. He was not as strong as the others.

Maybe...

He dove down across from her after giving a soft roar to announce himself. She immediately crouched down over her catch and warily stared at him as he settled down onto his rear and stared toward her.

Her deep blue eyes were as vivid as the clear sky above. She was strong, quick, and surely dangerous from her bared teeth and sharp claws. So beautiful and liver-warming. There were no hurt-marks anywhere on her scales or hide. Her wings were quite strong also.

He was very content to sit there and stare in awe at her even as she stalked closer to him. Such beautiful blue eyes, much deeper than his own that were a somewhat lighter blue.

Her voice was so pure, so strong, so kind, he could listen to her voice an entire sun-cycle...

Then she started batting him on the nose with a paw.

"Grr, what was that for?" he groaned as he hopped back from the not-vicious attack.

She huffed in clear amusement.

"Good, he has words..."

"Yes, I have words. Why would I not?"

"You were not talking to me."

He hummed softly and bent his head toward her.

"My sorrow, I have not seen another light wing in over a seasons-cycle."

She tilted her head in confusion, her ears lifting slightly.

"Seasons? What?"

What?

"What do you mean? Hot-seasons, life-slowing-seasons, cold-seasons, and new-life-seasons," he explained.

"I do not understand," she grumbled.

This was twisted. What kin would not know about seasons? Maybe she was very, very simple in her thinking, but that felt very false.

"What is your name?" he asked, trying to change the subject.

She blinked in surprise at the question. That seemed twisted also.

"Name? You have a name also?" she exclaimed.

His jaw hung open slightly in confusion.

"Yes, I am Hope-In-His-Liver."

"I am Paws-At-Bright-Flowers," she hummed back.

"Why is my having a name twisted?" he wondered.

"It is not twisted. I came from a far pack that has a much-twisting way of living. All the light wings in the pack have no names."

"Why not?" he sat down on his rear and hummed his confusion though his tail also betrayed that.

"Because they think only of the pack. They do not think of their own self as different from the pack."

"That is much twisted thinking of them. Every pack is made of the ones in the pack. All have wants that are not only those wants of the pack."

She huffed in clear agreement.

"You have strong thinking, Hope-In-His-Liver. Why do you have that name?"

"Because I have not let weak thinking into my liver. Even when I would sleep alone in cold caves in the above, I would never..."

"The above," she exclaimed, "you flew from the above!"

That answered the biggest question he had. She did not know of seasons because there were no seasons in this hidden world, which she had apparently never flown from.

"Yes, my old pack flies in the above."

She stepped closer to him, clearly without any wariness. Her eyes were wide with wonder and curiosity.

"I do not know the above."

Then she turned to the prey and flicked her head at it.

"Will you tell me about it as... we eat?"

He purred at that.

* * *

She listened attentively as he told her about the most... normal things. The sun's warmth on scales. Rainfall from clouds. The crashing and growling flashes of sky-lights. The types of four-leg prey.

He eagerly waited and took his time with the meat as she told him about far hidden ranges. Caverns filled with black mist that no kin ever flies into. Caverns filled with bright, warm light from light rocks that grow up into the hidden sky. Deep waters with fish and other water-prey. Ranges filled with swarms of kin like nests. She had been from the middle of her sire and dam's hatchling-order.

She grew more chilled as she talked about the other kin though.

"What?" he asked.

Her answer was to lift her head and look around.

"I flew from the pack and other ranges so that I could be away from most other kin."

"Are they filled with danger and fighting-wanting?"

"Many are. Some kin can live in the same nests and not fight because they do not need the same hunting or dens. Others do fight much."

She looked down at her paws.

"Many young can die because of fighting and hunting."

"Kin hunt other kin?" he growled.

"Some do."

He took a moment to think about that badness. The hidden world was not as big as the world above, it seemed. The prey and hunting must be limited. Kin would fight other kin for hunting or even to make the other kin into prey.

It was... necessary and the normal way..

"And this range here is far from other filled-with-danger kin, true?" he wondered.

"True, you are the first light wing I have seen in two sleep-cycles, and the nearest pack is maybe four sleep-cycles from here."

They returned to finish off the prey. He licked his paws and claws clean once there was nothing but bones and hide.

"This was my first hunt in this range," she purred with pride.

"It was well-hunted. I saw you ground it."

She blinked.

"You were watching my hunt?"

She had to know. It had to be obvious.

"I saw your catching of it at the end of the hunt."

She flashed her teeth.

"I am warmed by catching with my teeth and claws instead of fire and hiding. The true hunt helps me to stay strong."

"You are strong, Paws-At-Bright-Flowers."

"Paws is enough," she chuckled.

"Then I am Hope," he answered.

She purred at that and then looked up at the surrounding range.

"I do not even have a den claimed in this range yet," she mumbled.

He took a breath, knowing well that this was the moment. This sky between them had to be flown eventually.

"Do you want me to help you look for one?"

He had not asked if she had a mate or not. There was no need. She said that she had not seen another light wing in two sleep-cycles. She had an alone-scent. There was no male in her life-flight. Not yet.

Her deep blue eyes never looked away from his.

"Yes."

Then she spun away from him and took to the hidden sky. He let out the breath that he had been holding and flew after her with warmth in his liver.

His thoughts flew to the above and to a very far mountain peak.

 _You guided my flight well._

* * *

Patience.

It was a strength of his.

His own sire and dam had told him of that many times.

Being around Paws was testing that patience much in a very good way.

It had to have been just over a moon-cycle in the above since he had found her. In all that time they had done much together. Found a good cave to claim as a den together. Hunted ground-prey. Vanished into the deep waters where they hunted fish and swam circles around the other. Played games of touch the tail. Talked much about the nest-packs they came from and how twisted some ceremonies were. His own flights in the above while staying away from the flee-on-sight two-legs.

She had needed much explanation to truly understand the danger in those creatures that she had never seen before. His telling her about kin-bones kept as hunting and killing-signs was enough to make her growl softly and to swear on her wings that she was never going to fly to the above. He had no objections to the idea of staying here always in hiding.

Hunting as one. Flying as one. Resting as one. But not...

Sigh.

They hauled themselves out of the deep water after swimming to shore. He dried himself off first since she liked swimming a bit more than he did. It had been good hunting with several fish each securely in their bellies.

She turned to him with a very devious look in her eyes.

 _What are you..._

She shook herself wildly and flapped her wings to dry herself off, getting him wet again.

"What was that for?"

Her laughter was enough answer to him. Though it did not stop him from lunging at her and clamping his maw around her tail in retaliation. She aimed a slow strike at him and forced him to let her go. Then she leapt for the sky.

 _Fine. A chase it is._

She led them away from the water and over the mostly flat plain toward the forest of almost-trees that had a clearing with long grass and a small pond. It was not too far from the den but still felt like a different world even in this range. It was very green with the occasional prey animal and with many glowing flowers throughout.

It was also a place where they had spoken about some of their most liver-warming and chilling life-stories.

They touched down together in the long grass. He knew that something was different from the moment they landed and she curled up with her tail around her front paws.

She almost always started talking about something, she was very curious compared to all other light wings he remembered, but this time she was more withdrawn, hesitant, or...

He stepped closer to her and froze.

His flight from his old pack had been after he become an adult with all the natural life-making wanting. He knew how to tell when a female was in her season and ready to make an egg.

She was very ready and had wanting.

Different packs and nests have different ceremonies, that much he knew from his own life-flight. Some females prefer the male who brings back the largest and most frequent catches of prey. Those males would be best at providing for any hatchlings. Other females want only the smartest-thinking males who win at certain tests of thinking. They would likely make the smartest-thinking hatchlings. Other females wanted only a very strong male who could catch and claim her by force. They would likely make the strongest hatchlings.

What would Paws want?

A very brief moment of thought followed before he remembered her first hunt that he saw. She was a hunter who enjoyed the catch up close.

So he acted and jumped at her. She was clearly unprepared for the strike and was caught by surprise as he pinned her on her back and stilled her tail. She could not struggle because he held her neck in his jaws.

It was so easy to claim her then. He should make her his. He was very ready also.

But...

Her eyes... so deep blue and filled with a warm fire... he could not see them now.

His liver burned with wanting, yes, but there was another wanting that was strong.

She listened to him. She played with him. She did not turn tail on him because he was smaller.

She was different.

Just like him.

Was he trying to be something he was not?

He let go of her neck and lifted his head so that he could stare into her blue eyes. She said nothing for several wingbeats until she whispered.

"Hope, what... is wrong?"

"I... wanted to know... what you want..."

"You would... think about me... even now?" she blinked.

"Yes," he growled.

"What I want?" she purred.

She lifted her head toward his and wrapped her tail around his.

"You know what I want, now and always."

* * *

The egg was somewhat small, at least compared to others he had seen, and pure white.

He was the one watching over it when it moved for the first time. It was a small thing, just a tiny rocking from side to side, but he had roared in joy nonetheless and immediately told Paws. They very rarely left its side from then on. There was never a quiet moment in the den after that. They filled the den with songs, words, and stories, all so that the little one within would hear much and be curious about the world beyond.

He had seen other pair's eggs from his time in the pack, and she knew some from her time in her pack. They both knew that the size of the little one at hatching did not truly matter much. A smaller hatchling would still grow to a full size with enough food. There was much food in this range with no competing kin to fight against.

* * *

It was time.

The moment that he had dreamed about all his life. His first little one was about to hatch and be welcomed into the hidden world.

Their eyes lay on the egg wobbling slightly in the warm sand. There were already a few tiny cracks in the shell.

They were still waiting a while later. The egg was still rocking and the cracks were larger, but the crucial breaks had not yet happened.

"You can do it little one," he crooned to it during a lull in the movement.

The egg trembled once and then went still.

It was not moving.

The hatching stopped.

"Why is it not moving?" he hissed.

"The little one must be... small and cannot hatch," she whimpered.

Bad!

Wrong!

"No..."

Nature was reaching out its sharp claws and biting teeth to tear at his liver even now. The normal way would kill this little one before it even had a chance in life!

 _'Do not let the normal way guide your flight.'_

He looked down at his claws and back to the egg.

 _'You must do something that no light wing has done before.'_

He knew in that moment what he had to do. Without wasting another moment, he stepped forward and lay down next to the egg. With a single claw tip, he began tapping at the shell repeatedly, slowly widening the cracks until one crucial break happened. It was only a small hole, maybe the size of a very small tooth, but it was enough. That hole let air into the egg again.

The little one within seemed to regain its strength at the new air and started stretching and pushing against the egg again, making it wobble with the little ones renewed strength. The cracks grew wider, and larger chunks of shell were torn away. With a great burst of strength, the hatchling broke the shell and tumbled onto the ground. Then it lay there on the rock and mewled piteously, completely tired and unable to right itself.

A small female.

They were both afraid to touch her, as if doing so would hurt her. Finally, he ever so carefully reached out with a slightly trembling paw and rolled her over onto her belly. She protested against the strange force with a chirp and forced open her eyes which were a brilliant light blue to contrast with her dam's deep blue.

For a moment, she looked unsure of them both, but then they started crooning and purring to her. She cried out to them, recognizing the sound from her time in the egg, and tried to get to her feet, but she was still too unsteady and collapsed on her belly with a tiny grunt.

Paws grabbed a fish that they had saved and dropped the already-chewed on fish before the hatchling. The little one froze when she smelled the fish, and her eyes went impossibly wide before she lunged and fiercely attacked the fish.

She was beautifully proportioned and very sleek, except for her increasingly full belly. Her light blue eyes were very much alive with awareness and curiosity. Even while munching on the fish, her gaze seemed to wander every which way. Paws took the time while the hatchling was busy feeding to clean her.

"She is very small," Paws quietly remarked.

"She will grow strong. Stronger than either of us," Hope warmly rumbled back to her.

As soon as she finished the last bit of fish, the hatchling gurgled happily and looked up at his nearby nose. She went cross-eyed for a moment as she tried to focus on him. She then raised a tiny forepaw and began batting at his nose, making him and Paws both rumble with warmth.

The hatchling eventually tired of all playing, yawned widely, and stumbled toward her dam's side. A white wing went out and covered the hatchling.

"You saved her..." Paws rumbled.

"I had to. I think that the egg was too strong for her."

A solemn, almost pained look fell on Paws in that moment.

"I have... never heard of a sire do that before. Most would not want a weak hatchling to come from them. It... makes the pack weak," she sneered even as she said it.

"Even if that is true, does the hatchling deserve a chance to prove itself? We all need help from another when the winds of life blow much against the flight."

"And I did nothing..." she whimpered.

He stepped closer to her and nuzzled her nose.

"Nothing? You made a strong egg, sang to her, and sat the egg well. We made her together and brought her to life together."

Paws leaned forward at his words and licked his cheek.

"Should we give her a name now?" she asked.

He hummed in thought at the question. Obviously they were going to give her a name. But what name?

A remembered promise drifted to him in that moment. He had agreed to do something in exchange for being told how to find this world where he found his life-mate.

 _'Tell your first hatchling about the above world. Tell them about the great sky-rock.'_

"You remember how I told you how I found the hidden world?" he softly hummed.

"Yes."

"I told that she-kin that I would take my first little one to the above so that they could see the great sky-rock once my first is grown enough."

He bent down to the ground and nosed closer to his sleeping hatchling until his breaths rustled her wings and tiny fins. Then he lifted his head away from her and looked back at Paws.

"She is the same color of light as the great night-sky-rock. We should call her Sky-Rock-Gazer."

* * *

 _ **Author's Note – I think you know who Sky-Rock-Gazer is. There is also a clear parallel in this with another sweet scene.**_


	5. Elation

Elation

* * *

His cape whipped around him as he fell. His last Deathgripper tumbled helplessly through the sky as well with its wings broken. They were both falling to their deaths.

Pure bliss was all he felt.

He had done what no others had ever managed.

All the hunts in the wild, all the dens found, all the pairs and spawn that he had cleansed from the world. It was finally finished after many years.

Even as he beheld the falling Night Fury many lengths away from him, he knew what was assured.

Why the dragons had been vanishing from the world over the last few decades, and especially a couple years ago, no one knew. There was only this one remaining place, this Haven, that had to be cleansed. The dragon menace would soon be no more.

He had just seen further proof of why his mission was a just one. That Night Fury used unholy and impure magic as he knew it could. That arcane power in their corrupt souls, that malice, was something that even few of the great hunters knew about Night Furies. But he knew from old tomes and forbidden knowledge passed down through his family from generation to generation. A purpose kept alive in the hearts and minds of all to keep the world pure.

The dragons would eventually turn against humans. It was inevitable. Dragons are hunters and killers, and hunters and killers do not befriend their prey. These humans in Haven were so... blind, naive, childish, and arrogant to think that they could change the way that had been through all of history. Such corrupted thinking could not be allowed to spread, and it would not. Nature always prevails in the end.

If only he had thought to make himself some false wings like the dragon riders had. But, his death would be more powerful, now that he thought about it. His mission had never been about himself after all. It was always for others and to protect the future.

Even his own downfall would assure his victory. The fleet was filled with people motivated by righteousness and the desire to protect the world from the dragons. They would not turn back even after his death. The whole fleet could see his fall from the sky in this faint light before daybreak. Even in his death his name would be a beacon of hope for people. A rallying cry against the monsters of the past.

He tried to steady his fall somewhat. His cape was torn from his back and lost to the wind as he tumbled.

Weightless.

Falling.

Floating.

Elation.

A moment of panic gripped him and a snarl escaped his lips as he saw the other Night Fury and the white female Night Fury in a dive toward the fallen one. He should have just killed and skinned the white one when he had the chance.

Surely the two demons could not catch up to the fallen one in time and save it...

The poison might not have been a lethal dose.

A moment of wavering uncertainty.

It was no matter.

Even if it was saved... it would change nothing. The fleet would continue on. They would find the dragon riders and would either engage them or drive them away. But there was nowhere in the world that the dragon riders could flee to with their dragons. They would always be hunted, even if out of revenge. If they had wanted to vanish off the map by leaving behind Berk and the other islands they hailed from, they had failed and would always fail. Haven was on the map. They would eventually be found no matter where they would flee to and would be cleansed from the world.

And the dragons... their fate was certain also. There was only one thing that they could do now. Only one choice could preserve themselves.

They must turn their tails on the dragon riders and choose their own kind by flying out into the far wilds where they belonged. He knew that they would do it. Everyone always chooses their own group when forced to!

This little Haven, nothing but false, empty peace that should never have been, was always fated to fall!

It was as he explained to Shadowwing down on the burning flagship.

The races of dragons and humans would always be enemies.

The two kinds would never know each other after this.

He had already won before the fight started.

Humans or dragons was the only way.

Peace was not the way of nature.

He looked up to the cloudy sky above him while savoring the feeling of freefall. There was no fear in his heart at his imminent death. He saw only an empty sky up above. A peaceful sky without any shadow or threat of wings and fire.

His purpose had been fulfilled.

He had won.

* * *

 _ **Author's Note – We are all the heroes of our own stories. Grimmel has a certain 'purity of purpose' behind his actions. He truly believes and embraces the 'us' against 'them' tribalism and hateful segregation that is so appealing in its simplicity and devious in its claim to be in 'our' interests.**_


	6. Curiosity

Curiosity

* * *

 _Flee on sight... did sire mean when I see them, or when they see me? They cannot see me!_

Sky-Rock-Gazer warmly hummed to herself at her own clever-thinking on that old advice. It was good advice that had much lift, yes, but she found a way around this cloud. She sent forth a shot of hiding-fire and spun into it. There was something nearby that was too liver-twisting and different to ignore.

She also was a curious light wing.

That had started so long ago when her great sire had taken her up from the hidden ranges and showed her the unbounded skies filled with the great and small sky-lights. The brightest sky-rock, pure white like her, had held her attention so much that she had accepted the name that her sire and dam had given her long ago as her always-name.

Now she was fully grown to her adult size with all control of her fire, hiding, and hunting. It had also been over a pawful of season-cycles since leaving the hidden ranges. All because she had the deep wanting for a mate, no, for a life-mate of her own. One to wrap her tail and wings around, join life-flights with in every way, and make a nest with. A nest filled with eggs and little ones through the cycles. More than she could count on her paws...

Sigh...

She would not have flown from all she knew and felt safe in for any other reason. But for now there was something else that she wanted to learn more about.

She dove down through the cloud, completely hidden from all eyes.

* * *

So long alone. She started out all alone in the above, but that was the natural way. The young fly the nest and the range to go search for mates and new ranges of their own. That was what her own sire and dam had done.

Her sire, Hope-In-His-Liver, had left a small pack of light wings in the above because there were no females he could take as his own. He told her once that they were too close kin to him and some of the pack's ceremonies were not what he thought were good. Her dam, Paws-At-Bright-Flowers, had left her pack in the hidden ranges and flown on her own to find an empty hidden range that she might claim for when a good mate found her.

But in all the cycles she herself had flown the above, hidden in the sky itself and searching unseen through nests of kin, she had never seen another light wing. Nor even one of those might-be-stories-only dark wings. Her sire and dam had explained that the light wings in the below had many twisted-ceremonies and did not live much as they or she would want. Twisted though it was to think, the above might be the best place to search for what she wanted.

It was also much bigger in the above. There were many ranges that can-be-mate kin could be in hiding. But if they lived in hiding much, hidden from eyes as she could...

She was so alone...

Then she found this strange life-twisting place a season-cycle ago.

It was a lone island far away from all others. It had a central mountainpeak and many rock-spires that flew up from the waters. None of that was what was so twisting about it though.

It was a nest of many different kin and two-legs!

The kin were of some types she had never seen before in all her flights in the above, the first ones being with her great sire only and the others being on her alone-flight to some nests and in the wild.

But the two-legs were living among the kin in peace and together-living? Some of the kin had two-legs on their backs or were working to do things with the two-legs?

 _I do not think I like that... It looks like traps..._

There were many of the kin inside what looked like places that they could be kept inside. Traps? Dens? Mixed-dens? She did not know which.

She had passed this twisting mixed-nest island by the first time she flew over it. There were no kin like her in the nest, and therefore it did not have what she wanted. There was nothing for her here except for a faint answer to a hatching question inside.

 _What are these two-legs?_

Were they good, as these kin seemed to think, or were they Monsters which she should flee on sight from?

 _'Two-legs are filled with danger. Flee on sight.'_

It was better to be safe and stay away from them.

* * *

She meant to learn more about them this time several sun-cycles later. The other dead nest filled with fire had no kin at all. Her curiosity was also quite great and seemed to guide her thoughts back to the mixed-nest. Even so, it was a careful-thinking plan to remain hidden from all eyes while flying above the mixed-nest.

Down through the clouds and over the mixed-nest when she saw...

It was different.

The big dens were gone now, burned to the ground, and there were no kin down in what had been the mixed-nest. There were many two-legs on the island though. These two-legs looked different also, as they had more of the shiny-silver-almost-rock scales on their no-scale bodies.

 _A nest fight?_

That was something different. She did not know that two-leg nests could fight, but it made some good-thinking in a way. A nest that outgrew its old range would need to leave in a group-flight and go take another range, even if that meant pushing out the old nest that had been there. It was the natural way.

There were still many kin in these skies also. Big kin, roaring kin, kin with something like the same shiny-silver-almost-rock scales on them also. But why would they need any false-scales?

 _Did the two-legs give them those also?_

That explanation had lift, even if the why behind the flight was as hidden as she was.

Down she dove under the mass of swarming kin and above the ground. Then understanding flew in her thinking.

 _The mixed-nest flew from this island._

Then she flew out over what was left of the mixed-nest place and saw the water.

She pulled up and stared in complete surprise at how many of the things there were. Things made of fallen trees and piled together into floating dens were on the water. Water-walkers? Water-swimmers? Moving dens?

Whatever they were, they were used to carry the two-leg flight to this island. She had never seen them from so up close before.

She found what had to be the flight-leader's water-walker. It was very big and was at the front of the pack. Even as she watched, something very strange happened.

All the kin that had been swarming over the island flew away from the island and began swarming over this water-walker.

Something big moved in the water.

A pair of great tusks ascended from the water next to the flight-leader's water-walker.

Her jaw hung open in awe at the sight of this very much big Alpha kin. No stories her sire and dam had ever told her had these things in them. There was nothing except a faint warning about some very big kin that could whisper to and twist life-fire and wants themselves.

She was hidden from all eyes. No kin could see her when the hiding-fire flowed over her. She was safe until she wanted to be seen.

But the Alpha turned in the water and stared in her direction.

Impossible!

It cannot be. Nothing could see her when she was hidden. No kin could see her life-fire.

Its blue eyes were so like her sire's eyes. Filled with wisdom and good-thinking words also.

A gust of wind on her thoughts as something stirred in her life-fire-wants.

.

That most deep wanting in her life-flight.

.

A good hope-vision.

.

Peace found now.

.

The eye was kind and understanding.

.

It could give her what she wanted.

.

Not being alone now.

.

Peace.

 _._

 _Not alone now?_

.

Hope-vision.

.

Her wanting.

.

Peace.

.

The eye was kind.

.

She was not alone now.

* * *

Her eyes opened as she recovered from much sleep.

Then her warm croon filled the den a moment later as she shifted on the nest. The most-good-precious-sing-to-it-nuzzle-it-talk-much-to-it-warm-hum-licks-protect-keep-warm egg between her paws filled her liver with warmth unlike anything else.

It was slowly and gently turned in her maw and then sat down to be sheltered under her tailfins.

But where was he? Where was her mate?

Hunting prey for her. That is where he would be.

When was he last here with her?

Grumble.

 _Where are you?_

More waiting and tail twitching followed as she waited. And waited. Then he arrived.

Her mate, pure white with no hurt-marks and with his always liver-warmth for her, strode into the den while carrying a prey-leg in his maw. He was a good hunter. His deep blue eyes were so easy to lose herself in.

Warm head nuzzling and deep purring followed at his return.

"You had a good hunt, my mate," she observed.

"Yes, Alpha gave us much to eat today," he answered.

Alpha?

 _What? I do not have an Alpha._

"Think about the egg my life-mate. How is it?"

Yes, that was something better to think about.

"The little one within is strong. We flew very well," she hummed.

Then she glanced out of the den with longing. It had been so long since she had stretched her wings. How long?

"I will fly some to warm my liver. Will you stay..." she began.

"No, do not," he interrupted.

"What?" she warbled in confusion.

"Do not go out there. You should stay here and be warm."

Then he turned around and flew off again.

 _Hmm, what was that about? Surely he will want to be with his egg also._

Sigh.

 _How long has it been since I flew?_

Then she paused and shuffled in place. Something felt slightly... twisted.

Why could she not remember flying recently?

 _I should wait until he gets back. He can tell me what is happ..._

Her ears went back as confusion nibbled at her tail. There was something very wrong and missing. Something was bad in her own thinking.

Her mate's name was gone from her memory.

 _What?_

How did she get here? Where was here?

Who was he?

.

Who was she?

.

She got to her feet, barely able to bring herself to step away from the so-important egg, and crept toward the den's mouth.

A sound grew louder as she approached the den's mouth. A roaring, rushing, and crashing sound like water.

 _What?_

Her puzzled growl escaped her jaws at the tingling feeling that something was not... what it should be.

Not true?

But another want only grew stronger as she walked. She could go back to the egg, curl up with it, and forget all the twistedness. Go back to what she knew and what felt good and safe. Do not listen to that little whispering voice inside that says what is might be wrong, bad, FALSE!

 _No, good. This is good. This is what you want..._

"What?"

The voice stopped and retreated.

Silence followed with no inside-voice telling her what to think.

.

She was a curious light wing.

.

She wanted to learn, to know more, and to see what was beyond this den-cave.

.

Slowly, she crept forward.

.

She stuck her head out of the den and looked around.

.

The world shattered.

.

The waves rolled in the far ocean. The ground was made of fallen trees. Two-legs walked all around.

And where she was...

Thin but very strong trunks of the strong-silver-stuff rose around her like trees, trapping her in whatever this thing was.

She could not stretch her wings.

Her jaws were closed by a strong mouth-closing thing.

The den behind her was gone.

The den, egg, and mate never were.

Bad! Wrong! False! Lies!

Twisted thoughts!

One of the two-legs, a very big one with a dark hide and long head-fur, was looking down at her from outside the trap.

.

The trap...

.

TRAPPED!

* * *

 _No... no... no... no..._

 _What was I thinking..._

 _Stupid..._

 _'Two-legs are filled with danger. Flee on sight.'_

She shivered despite the warmth in the air. The two-legs... the trappers had given her some fish to eat at least. That was a small good thing.

 _I should have listened to you... great sire..._

Sigh.

 _I deserve this... what was I thinking..._

She whined softly in a moment of quiet despair and emptiness.

 _'You will do things no light wing has done before... my sky-light...'_

She lifted her tailfins and looked out of the trap toward the two-legs around her trap.

 _They do not want me dead._

Her life-fire raged against these two-legs and against the thrall-kin that flew with the two-legs. If she were out of the trap she would tear them all apart for this. Rip their arms and legs from them. Claw apart their bellies. Eat their livers. Kill the Monsters. Flame the bad great-tusked Alpha that had thralled her.

But she made not a sound as she looked around at the two-legs... at the Monsters that had trapped her.

Her gaze eventually wandered up to the white sky-rock high above the highest clouds. Something about seeing it was very warming to her liver. Almost as if she knew it from somewhere. It was as white as her own wings and scales.

It could not be trapped or thralled by two-legs.

 _I will resist. I will fight._

Remembering the white sky-rock gave her hope.

 _You cannot break me. I am a light wing!_

* * *

 _ **Author's Note – Quite tragic indeed, but it helps expand a bit on how she came to be trapped and eventually found after the great battle against Bludvist's forces.**_


	7. In Memoriam

In Memoriam

* * *

Shadowwing felt completely at peace at the moment. There was absolutely nowhere in the world that he would rather be than up on this desolate mountainside in the middle of the northern wilderness. The chill wind was whipping around him and nipping at his ears on this cloudless night. The brilliantly bright moon smiled down and filled the world with its lunar radiance.

Luna shifted at his side under his outstretched wing. She purred softly and leaned against him, her breaths as slow and peaceful as his.

 _I could so get used to this..._

Sigh.

 _Maybe another week of flying at this pace if we don't get... delayed, though I would not be opposed to more of that. Then we will be home. Really cannot wait for them to tease me._

A soft snort.

 _Heh, I know what he will say. Brother, you are a rock-head, it is about time you flew with her._

He rolled his eyes.

 _And mom... oh gods, that will be quite a talk. Hey mom, guess what happened... I am, uh, married now, and your grandkids will be dragons... She'll actually be thrilled about that..._

"Shadowwing?" Luna whispered.

"Luna?"

"I was thinking..."

"That is a flight that is filled with danger," he teased.

She chuckled solemnly and let a quiet moment pass before she continued.

"I want to know... but you do not need to say anything if you do not want to..."

"Tell me."

She hummed warily.

"You told me much about your two-leg sire. But I do not know much about the other one, the female that you had wanting for. Do you want to talk more?"

He sighed softly and considered it. Talking certainly helped, especially when talking with someone he fully trusted in everything.

"What do you want to know about her?"

"Anything you want to say. I will sit here and listen," she answered.

A brief pause followed.

"Her name was... Astrid..."

"What does it mean?" Luna tilted her head in wonder.

"Beautiful and liver-warming beyond the sky-breath."

"Was she?""

"My liver was much warmed by seeing her. She... was what any male two-leg then would want as a mate. Strong for a female, very brave, a fighter, and one who lived much for the nest-pack."

Luna considered all this with a soft hum.

"Those sound good for fighting. What about living in peace?" she wondered.

It was a fair point and something that he had gradually started to notice. Everything about Astrid that he had found so attractive when he was younger and... still human... was...

Stubborn. Always training for combat. Physically competent. Useful and skilled. Loyal to the tribe. Answering the call of duty.

The pride of Berk.

Sure, she was beautiful also, and he had been a young man with natural desires and wants.

What he had fallen for back then was Astrid the Fighter. It was perfectly understandable too since that is the kind of girlfriend he wanted... before he found Toothless and learned that the Nord way was not the only way.

Astrid had clearly changed after the encounter in the cove. Taking her on a romantic flight, letting her touch the clouds, and then her seeing him defend his dragon friend had made far more of an impression on her than he thought was possible. To completely change her opinion of dragons, after years of training to fight them and thinking of them as monsters, in one day no less, was quite incredible. He was not one to question how it had happened.

"The life-flight of a fighter is not best for life when there is no fighting. True. I do not think she ever thought much about having little ones of her own. That was not in her life-flight then," he admitted.

Luna hummed softly.

"It is not good to start a nest when in much danger," she agreed.

"She was what the nest-pack needed then. She did change some after peace came to the nest-island. But she always lived more for the whole nest than for herself. She flew her life-flight for others and worked to keep the peace and bonding. I wonder if she would have become... much warmer if I had lived... as a two-leg."

Silence followed that comment.

"Do you wish that had happened?" she whispered.

He gently nuzzled her neck and purred to her.

"No. I am not living a different life Luna. You are my life-mate because of who you are, not who you are not. I only wish that she had not died. My life is now and in the future skies with you, always."

"Yes, it is," she clenched his tail.

Another quiet moment passed between them.

"Is there anything else about your two-leg life that you want to say?"

He took a deep breath and sighed.

"I was not good at being a two-leg."

"No, why not?" she purred with a hint of amusement.

"I was small as a fledgling. I could not fight well or do things that the nest-pack wanted."

"I was small as a hatchling," Luna whispered.

"But you grew big and strong. I was always small and not strong in my body. I was strong in my thinking though," Shadowwing continued.

"And being big and strong, being a fighter, was what the pack and your sire-Alpha wanted from you?"

"Yes," he whispered, "the island was one with fighting between two-legs and kin. The kin would fly down and burn the cave-dens, take ground-prey, and kill some two-legs. Fighters were needed to defend the nest. I made two-leg things to help me fight, but the things did not always do what I wanted them to do. Sometimes I would make fires in the nest by accident..."

She chuckled softly and nudged his side.

"What Luna?"

"You were not a good two-leg, you made fires in the nest by accident, you bonded with a Night Fury as a nestmate, and you were warmed by flying even when you were a two-leg in body. I think you always had the life-fire of a kin."

Shadowwing hummed in thought for a moment.

"Another two-leg who was like a sire in some ways told me that I needed to 'stop trying to be something I was not'. Maybe he knew better than I did."

"Which one was that?"

"The one-arm, one-leg one named Gobber."

"His second-name is... burps-much, yes?" Luna innocently asked.

He laughed at that.

"Yes, that is what his other name means. He does that much after he drinks much happy-water, almost like a game with other males to make the loudest sounds."

"Two-legs..." she grumbled.

"Yes, they are much twisted," he agreed.

"Why was that one like a sire in some ways?"

"He almost thought of me like his own little one when my true sire was away much being the Alpha. Also, he had no little ones of his own."

"Why not?"

He paused before answering that question.

 _Well, part of that you might understand. The other part..._

"He was hurt and could not... make little ones. He also did not want a mate... because of that, maybe."

She did not seem to question any of the explanation.

"I wonder what our little ones will look like," she softly purred.

Now that was a thought that made him grin and purr as well. Thinking about what his own kids would look like... who could really know that? Especially in their own case too. Who knew if Light Furies and Night Furies had ever paired off before?

"Probably both of us together. Maybe light and dark scales," he answered.

She laughed warmly at that.

"My dam teased me before I flew the nest for the above. She said that I might find a dark wing and find out if we could be good mates!"

He chuckled at that and then he froze with an idea tickling his tail.

"Were there others? Other Night Furies in the hidden world or this world?"

Her warm look faded rather fast at that question.

"I never saw any. My sire and dam told me that there were few because of something bad that happened."

"In the hidden world?"

"Yes..."

He again had a very faint suspicion of what that might mean, but it was better to not give voice to it. Let the monsters of the past stay dead, especially since Mimir said that they were all gone.

Together in each other's warmth, they looked up at the clear sky in perfect peace.

 _I wonder what has been going on back at Haven. Rain-Eater is probably learning to fly and talk now. I really cannot wait to see them all again. I will miss this peace and quiet though._

The deep silence and desolation around him beckoned in some way. It was now so much warmer, literally and figuratively, than all his previous nights and months in the wilderness had been.

All because he was not flying on his own, now or ever again.

* * *

 _ **Author's Note – Luna would naturally be rather curious to learn more about her mate's past life which helped make him who he is. It also felt like a talk that still needed to happen at some point.**_


	8. Ascendant

_**Author's Note – This is obviously set during and immediately following the Volume III chapter titled 'The Hidden World'.  
**_

* * *

Ascendant

* * *

Shadowwing's roar still echoed off the walls of the massive throne chamber. His head was lifted high, wings fully flared, and he could feel his warm glow of strength and command. He spared a glance over his shoulder at Was-Grounded; his brother looked exactly the same.

Powerful. Strong. An Alpha.

There was no feeling of threat or challenge from the fellow Night Fury standing with him on the opposite side of the crystal. He knew and trusted his brother in all things, and he knew that the same was true for Was-Grounded.

They were both ascendant Kings of the Hidden World now, or at least of this part of it and the dragons who lived here.

Then he looked back out over the swarming flock. All the dragons from Haven, at least those who had humans of their own, were staying on the ground with their wings spread wide as they roared up at him and Was-Grounded.

He knew what was likely to happen eventually. The dragons that did not have humans of their own were certain to fly off after this and go... wherever they wanted to go in this world. Even the bonded dragons would be allowed to fly freely as they wished throughout the Hidden World. They were not pets.

He gave a heavy sigh.

 _We know nothing about this world. Someone should go map it eventually after everything settles down. Surely there must be an empty cave down here that we could use. I really hope so._

He glanced off into the distance. There was a large flock of dragons soaring away down far passageways and leaving behind the throne chamber. That was also their right. They had been hurt by humans and would not trust them, or they otherwise would not accept him and Was-Grounded as Kings.

 _They never saw us defeat the Bewilderbeast. We wouldn't be natural Alphas to them._

He also knew that there was another reason why they were leaving. There was nothing forcing them to bow down to new Alphas.

Night Furies could not force obedience on other dragons. Not even when they glowed with power. They could, by thinking their wishes to other dragons, request that a fellow dragon do something, but there was no force of will to compel that action. He knew that he would never use such a power against anyone even if he could.

Having been a victim of such mind-control in the past made that control something that hit close to his heart.

But he gave a warble of curiosity as an idle thought crossed his mind.

 _I never tried to use that thought-speaking with a human. I wonder if I could link with one? Probably not._

He rolled his eyes and huffed at himself.

 _There will not be a need!_

He had, in all his years of life, not truly tried to talk out loud to a human. That he had never before realized that he could speak aloud in Norse was a sure sign that he was an idiot. It would take a lot of practice to learn spoken Norse, but he knew all the sounds that he needed to make.

That knowledge of what human words meant was something that it was likely that no Night Fury had ever learned before. His own being changed brought over that knowledge from when he had been human. His transformation therefore changed all the Night Furies, Light Furies, and Dawn Furies that would come from his and his brother's families out into the unknown future. They would be bilingual and would better bridge the gap between worlds.

The possibility that their children would eventually pair off together was an awkward one for him to think about. But, as Was-Grounded had assured him in the past, there was something about scent that let dragons know if a possible partner was too close kin to be an appropriate mate. If cousins were too close in their case, they would know about that and would not be attracted to each other. They would have to find other Night Furies and Light Furies throughout the Hidden World.

He glanced back over his shoulder at their families. Dawn-Singer, Aurora, Rain-Eater, and Mist-Wings sat on their haunches next to Green-Wings; the children were attentively looking on and awed at what they saw.

His own Luna had their son Moon-Dancer under a wing as she lay down with her head on her paws. She was gazing up at him while crooning to him, but as he gazed with warmth into her eyes it looked like there was a sadness in them.

He understood why.

There was so much that was unknown about the Hidden World right now. He knew that there was at least one full pack of Light Furies somewhere in the unknown caverns. It was possible that her parents were out there also.

 _Hopefully they are and we can find them one day... or however we will count time from now on._

He closed his eyes.

It was so strange to be sitting on the same throne where Mimir had sat until recently. That mystical dragon, who could see into his life, had fought the Hunters of Night Furies, had watched over dragons for hundreds of years, and who had magical, for lack of a better word, powers, was certainly gone.

His position had been unclaimed until now.

There was something strengthening about sitting on this glowing rock and watching the dragons all around him. His belly felt warmed by the light, and the crystal rock underpaw burned without any heat. There were still so many dragons all around down below.

Thought faded.

Whispers, emotions, and desires echoing from all around him.

Minds touched and fears and hopes shared.

Pure, raw power unclaimed in the binding unity.

His soul-fire reached out to poke at the oneness.

But...

It...

Recoiled...

The moment passed with a real or imagined flicker of light.

Shadowwing opened his eyes and looked out over the flock of dragons and humans down below; they were all staring up at him and his brother on the crystal throne.

He let out a heavy breath, let his light fade, folded his wings away, and turned to walk to his brother. Was-Grounded opened his eyes, did the same, and started toward him.

They shared a silent moment of trust, remembering everything that had happened over the last few days, and then turned together to walk down the slope to their families.

He knew that it was time to start rebuilding. First would come the search for a place in which to make a New Haven.

No one could possibly know what would follow that.


End file.
